Marvin Humes recalls request from Liam Payne's mum as he says 'I'm so proud of him'

Marvin Humes has recalled the request he and his JLS bandmates received from Liam Payne's mum the first year he auditioned for The X Factor before later finding incredible success with One Direction.

Marvin was recalling his time with 'little brother' Liam in the wake of his tragic death, aged 31. The singer died after falling from a balcony on the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

According to police in Buenos Aires, officers were initially responding to reports "of an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol".

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A post-mortem examination report has since found that Payne died of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”, as a result of the fall.

Following the heartbreaking news, a special hour long show, hosted by Sam Thompson, aired on Hits Radio in tribute to Liam. Among those joining the host was Marvin, who had earlier paid tribute to Liam on social media and his own KISS FM show.

Speaking to Sam, Marvin. who shot to fame with JLS on The X Factor in 2008, the year Liam first auditioned as a solo artist, said: ‘It’s been a very, very strange 24 hours. Like most people, I heard the news late last night and the first feeling was shock and just sadness to see in black and white the news.

"It was just shocking and today has been a rollercoaster of emotions an ultimately you just feel for Liam's family m his son, his mum, dad his friends. t hasn’t properly hit home yet. I spoke to a few people on the phone on the way into work today and everyone just has mixed emotions – it’s shocking news. It’s hard to put into words…"

The singer and DJ continued to explain: "Obviously, JLS did the X Factor in 2008 and One D did it in 2010 but the difference with Liam - to me and to the rest of the JLS boys - was that we knew him in 2008 as he auditioned for the X Factor when you were allowed to be 14. He was just the best – it’s weird because we were naturally drawn to each other.

"I can picture it now, we were in the car park of the O2 Arena and we’d all got past the first round and it was like the second stage and Liam just warmed to us. He was literally like our little brother he was 14 years old, he was a kid, we were kids. I would have been about 22, 23 and I just put my arm around him and we took him under our wing and it was like he was a fifth member of the band because he was there by himself so we looked after him.

"It didn’t work out that year for him and he was naturally devastated and I remember putting my arm around him and saying ‘listen you are a great talent you’re a great kid its going to work out for you just come back again’ and that’s what he did.

"I can picture speaking to his Mum, she was with him as he was so young, and she would say to us to look after him so that’s what we did. To see how far he came as an artist, I was so proud of him, he went from this young 14 year old with massive stars in his eyes to literally becoming one of the biggest artists in the world."

Marvin, 39, added: "He has an incredible legacy, an amazing artist he had a great solo career as well. He achieved way beyond his wildest expectations… His passion for music you can’t over look that, he was a great songwriter as well, wrote a lot of the songs for the boys, but he just loved singing and I’ll always remember that about him.

"What has given me a sort of bit of comfort today is knowing that he achieved everything that he wanted to achieve in his life and more. It doesn’t feel real that he’s not here and that’s going to take some time to get used to."